Automatic garage door



M y 1940. A. c. D'ALFONSO- 2,200,542

AUTOMATIC GARAGE noon Filed April 3, 1937 INVENTOR, Al EXAA/DER C. D 'A4Fozv ro A TTORNEY Patented May 14, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT orrlce 5 Claims.-

This invention relates to garage doors of the lift type and the principal object of the invention is to provide improvements in such doors whereby the construction is greatly simplified, and the doors operate with very little effort.

Another object is to provide an overhead swinging garage door which will be balanced and safe aganst accidental falling when open.

Another feature is an improved spring and leverage system on a door of this kind.

Another feature is the provision of means for easily varying the spring tension and balance of the door.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description and accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the door as seen from inside the garage with the door closed.

Figure 2 is a vertiial sertion of the door as seen from the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Before describing the drawing in detail, it may be sale that the door of applicant, in its pre-- ferred form, is pivotally mounted on a horizontal axis to swing through the doorway from a vertical to an overhead horizontal position, through the intermediary of a pair of Z-shaped levers under the sustaining effect of a pair of long flat springs which assume an almost vertical position when the door is open, and which springs are adjustable on their anchorages to vary their tension or angular effect.

In the drawing the inner front wall of the garage is designated I the door opening 2, and the door itself 3, and as shown in Figure 1 provided with a slight clearance at all sides.

The door is pivotally suspended in the doorway on two axles 4, supported in bearings 5, secured to the wall I adjacent opposite edges of the opening at points slightly above the center, and the axles are the upper outwardly bent ends of levers 6 which lie against the inner side of the door when closed, and the lower ends I of which are bent at right angles in direction opposite to the upper ends and find pivotal bearing in boxes 8 secured to the inner face of the door near its lower end. The lower ends I of levers i may downwardly adjacent the door opening and into a curved directing pipe ll set in the concrete floor l2 and extending horizontally to any suitable vehicle operated lever notshown.

As the bottom of the door swings outwardly, 6

it first moves on an are about pivots 4 and to gradualy elevate 'its upper end (rear end when open) from pivots l as an axis, I provide a pair of heavy flat band steel springs l9 which are pivotally engaged at their. upper ends over the 10 The lower ends of the springs may also extend 20 into the concrete, or they may be rigidly secured to the pipe as by bolts 23 and above the point of securing, the springs pass under a yoke or sliding clamp 24 which may be adjusted along the pipe to vary the position of the bend taken by the 25 spring when the door is closed, and thus determine its effective force.

When the door is closed these flat springs arch over to the door under considerable tension but unable to move the'door as the force is pulling substantially in line with pivots l-'|. However,

' when the lower end of the door is started outwardly either by use of handle 25 or rope'ifl operated from the wheel plate [8, the springs are shifted to an active position to at once gently but firmly swing the door upwardto the dotted position of Figure 2 with a foot or two projecting forwardly of the doorway as indicated.

To lower the door it must be pulled down by hand, as. by use of a handle 25 and'will move with very little resistance as the balance may be made almost perfect for any weight of door by proper adjustment of spring clamps 24.

Instead of anchoring the lower ends of the springs to the rigid iron bars or pipe guides 22,

it is manifest they may be anchored to-similarly disposed guides secured to the inner side walls of the garage if reasonably close to the door opening.

Also the flat springs may be of any number of leaves to give the required power for a very large door, though for the ordinary garage door I find a single strip of spring steel of about inch thick by about 3 inches wide to be satisfactory.

The door will be seen to be suspended from four pivotal points, two at 5, two at 8, for swinging through the doorway from vertical to elevated horizontal position, and is guided by a pair of fiat springs l9 each pivoted at one end on axis 20 and at the other end secured to a fixed member adjacent the side walls of the garage. And, while the main suspending levers 6 swing about a half circle to open the door to horizontal elevated position, spring levers I9 swing only about one quarter of a circle. Also the tension of the springs for elevating the door is adjustable tonormally balance the door when elevated, and the centers of the leverage system are so arranged that the springiorce is ineffective when the door is closed to vertical position, yet readily active after the door has been given a slight angular displacement or starting movement by an application of extraneous force.

A feature of my improved overhead swinging door is its simplicity for installing, as the location of bearings 5 at once accurately positions the door in the opening, the exact position of the remaining elements being of no great importance. Having thus described my improved overhead swinging .door, what I claim is:

1. An overhead swinging arage door comprising a door of a size adapted to swing through the doorway opening, means pivoting the door on a horizontal pivot near the lower part of the door and pivotally suspending said pivot from a horizontal axis supported on a fixed member at a point above said pivot, whereby when the lower part of the door is swung outwardly and upwardly through the doorway the component of the two pivotings will swing the door to a substantially horizontal over-head position projecting principally inwardly through the doorway and partially outward therefrom, and a pair of flat steel leaf springs at opposite sides of the doorway provided with means pivotally connecting the upper ends of said springs to the door and anchoring their lower ends each to a fixed point adjacent the floor in a manner to bend and put the springs under tension to balance and tend to hold said door in such over-head position.

2. In a structure as specified inclaim 1, means for adjusting the position of the bend of said springs set up in the operation thereof.

3. In a structure as specified in claim 1, the anchoring means comprising a rearwardly and upwardly slanted bar for each spring projecting from the floor of the building in'which said doorway is located, and along which said springs are arranged to be clamped.

4. In an overhead swinging garage door adapted to swing through a doorway from vertical to overhead substantially horizontal position, means pivotally suspending the door comprising a pair of horizontal bearings secured to the inner surface of the door adjacent its lower end, a pair of horizontal bearing boxes secured to the frame of the doorway about midway of its height, a pair of vertical levers, one at each vertical edge of the door each provided with oppositely directed axles respectively projecting laterally from the ends of the lever, the axles at one end of the levers pivotally supported in said bearings and those at the opposite ends in said bearing boxes, and a bar secured to the door extending horizontally across the same at a point above the center of and projecting beyond both vertical edges of the door, and spring means active on the extending ends of said bar tending to swing the door to overhead position after first starting by an extraneous force.

5. An overhead swinging garage door comprising a door of a size to swing through the doorway opening, means pivotally suspending the door comprising a pair of arms along opposite vertical edges of the door each pivoted at the lower end on a horizontal axis to the lower part of the door and at the upper end on a horizontal axis supported on a fixed point, whereby when the lower part of the door is swung outwardly and upwardly through the doorway the door will rise to substantially horizontal overhead position, and means aiding such swinging of the door comprising a pair of leaf springs respectively at opposite sides of the doorway, means operatively connecting one end of each spring to the upper portion of the door and means anchoring the opposite ends of the fiat springs in a manner to put them under tension tending to lift the door toward overhead position.

ALEXANDER C. DALFONSO. 

